Leaving the Group

I apologize to both of my loyal readers for my long absence from the blogging stage. :) I have found that one actually has blogging muscles and if one doesn’t exercise those blogging muscles, they become weak. My blogging muscles are very weak right now. I am feeling the burn as I type this.

I have had some things on my mind lately and I have decided that the time has come to unburden myself. For whatever goofy reason, writing helps when it comes to analyzing and resolving certain issues that may be causing me grief. I make no apologies for my views and beliefs as presented here just as I ask no one else to apologize for their own thoughts.

I know going into this blog that what I write today will NOT win me any new friends and in fact may alienate some of those I call friends. I regret that but for my own sake; I need to say what I need to say.

I have chosen to shed the label of ‘Christian’ in my own life.

What?

I’ll say it again; I have chosen to shed the label of ‘Christian’ in my own life.

This decision is a temporary one. I don’t plan on NOT being a Christian for the rest of my life but for the time being, this is what I feel is best for me. Some of you may ask why. Some may not care. Some may support the decision. I respect all of those positions. It is for those that truly have no idea where this is coming from that I feel I owe an explanation. I make no promises as to the efficacy of that explanation. I only promise that I will do my best to articulate the thoughts and feelings that lead me to this point.

The simple truth behind my decision is that I believe that the term ‘Christian’ has ceased to be a way of life. It has become a label. It has become a brand. A brand to be produced, packaged, marketed, shipped, and purchased. It has become a money maker. Books, CD’s, software, classes, etc. I liken it to the money changers and the merchants in the Temple courtyard.

It has become a ‘members only’ club. It allows people to pick and choose those verses in the Bible that they feel best make their point and fling them at ‘non believers’ as if they were spears. 2nd Corinthians 6: 14 comes to mind. How many times has this verse been thrown back and forth? Taken in context, I feel that the Apostle Paul was warning the Corinthians about the pitfalls of being with, marrying, doing business with, etc. those who are unrighteous. Those who do NOT keep the commandments of God. It is NOT tacit instruction to engage in religious discrimination. So many times however, that is how it is presented. Don’t be with Catholics! Don’t be with Baptists!! Don’t be with Mormons!! Don’t be with Buddhists! Shun those who don’t believe as you do!! Come on!! The apostle doesn’t say ‘be not yoked with those who believe differently.’ He says ‘be not yoked with those who do not believe.’

I have been accused of not being Christian more times than I can count simply because I don’t believe in the same manner as the accuser. If destroying friendships, or writing off family members is what it takes to be a Christian these days, then I am happy not being a member of that club. I believe in Christ and I believe in the two great commandments in the law; love the Lord and love thy neighbor. For me, for right now, that will do.

Shermans Anyone?

I apologize for my long absence. As we all know, life has a funny way of getting in the way of things. Anyway, I have unlimbered my paintbrushes again but my focus has shifted a bit.

I am building and painting a mid war US rifle company (circa late 1942) in 15mm. When all is said and done, the rifle company will have 3 complete rifle platoons, machine gun and anti tank platoons, a mortar platoon, A&P platoon, and armor and artillery divisional support.

With the exception of the divisional markings, my 3 tank platoon of M4A1 Sherman tanks is complete. These all have the 75mm main gun.

Next up on my painting list....my machine gun platoon. 4 machine gun sections all packing the vicious M1917 HMG.

Inspiration: So Damn Hard to Find

I would like to write. I don’t mean letters, or postcards, or copy for a newspaper. I mean that I would like to write something else. The problem I face right now is that I have no idea what I want to write and I have no idea where to start. I just now I want to write.

See, I have all these ideas floating around in my cranium. In fact, I would say that I have a plethora of ideas. A veritable cornucopia of ideas but damn it, I can’t seem to squeeze any of those ideas out of the obscure and squishy confines of my brain and onto paper. Or Microsoft Word as the case may be.

My ideas are diverse in their nature. Perhaps a book of poetry? Haiku to be exact. You may ask yourself, ‘Self? What is so neat about a book full of haiku poems?’ The answer is probably nothing. Unless those haiku are about such controversial subjects as breast enhancement, NASCAR racing, or the New Kids on the Block. See? That is pure, unadulterated brilliance. Come forth and drink from my well of stupendous vision.

As I stated in a previous blog, I might write a book for children. Assuming Privateer Press is willing to work with me, that book would be set in the magikal, mechanikal (misspelled on purpose) world of the Iron Kingdoms. A world where ten ton steel and iron constructs do battle and the fate of all life hangs in the balance. Someone told me that children’s books should be educational so what would my book teach kids? It would be teach them about courage, tenacity, and that burning heretics is OK. It would teach them that mercy is for sissies and that only the strong survive.

I might write a How-to book. Perhaps something along the lines of ‘How to Suck at Just About Everything and Still be Content.’ This book would NOT be based on my own life experiences. It would be based on my observations of others. I suck at very little and so would not be a good inspiration.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that I want to do something. I want to write. Not necessarily for another person’s enjoyment but mostly for my own satisfaction. I just can’t seem to figure out where to begin. I have no formal training. I’ve never really written before. I mean, I’ve written a lot but never with the intent to publish. Can I have writers block while preparing to write a book or would that be known as ‘wannabes’ block?

A Book for Children

Greetings to one and all.

Just a brief announcement. I have decided that I am going to write a book for children. I will need to find an illustrator to collaborate with but right now, I am just getting ready to write.

There are a few details to work out with Privateer Press since my plan is to base the book in the Iron Kingdoms. It is tentively titled "Where the Warjacks Are." Copyright infringment is not an issue for me. :P

The premise at this point centers on a young boy who falls asleep one night, only to wake up in a field with a Crusader Heavy warjack staring down at him as if waiting for something. Hilarity and burning ensue. This book is destined to be a best seller.

More to come.......

Fighting--A Part of Hockey?

I've been watching a lot of hockey this season. As far as I am concerned, hockey is the greatest sport on the planet, bar none. Recently, the question of fighting in hockey has come up again. There are those who say it has no place in the game. There are those who say it is part of what makes hockey, well........hockey. I happen to agree with the latter but there is more to it. Allow me to explain.

My favorite team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, have battled back from a dismal middle season to clinch a playoff spot. It has been an energizing and excited season these past few weeks. Their last two games have been in Florida. On Sunday, they lost to the Panthers. It was a tough break. Yesterday, the Pens beat the Lightning 6-4. Both games were intense and tensions were running high. The gloves came off on several occasions in both contests. A thought came to me after watching the game against the Lightning.

Late in the first period of Sunday's game against the Panthers, Florida blueliner Keith Ballard threw a hip check on Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin that caused Malkin to flip head over skates and come down on his neck. He was fine but the check was low. Sidney Crosby, the Pens team captain, took umbrage with that and immediately dropped the gloves and he a Ballard went at it. It wasn't really a fight. It was more of a wrestling match that ended when both players fell to the ice and the linesmen broke it up. It wasn't the fight itself that I took notice of though. It was the loyalty to a fellow player that intrigued me.

See, Crosby isn't a fighter. Most folks will tell you that. 90% of the defensemen in the league are probably bigger and meaner than he is but he was all over Ballard in the blink of an eye. Why? Team spirit. Loyalty. Heart. All of these things. Crosby and Malkin are teammates and you always stand up for your teammates. Even Ballard said Crosby did the right thing in challenging him!! The Pens ultimately ended up losing that game but they were winners in my eyes. The whole damn team.

Yesterday's contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning resulted in a win for the Pens but again, team spirit caught my eye.

During the third period, Lightning winger David Koci nailed Pens forward Max Talbot deep in the Lightning zone and then immediately put Talbot in a headlock to keep him out of the play. That didn't bother me because that is hockey. Talbot escaped and headed back up ice but Koci caught up and crosschecked Talbot in the back. A scuffle ensued and Pens forward Eric Godard dropped the gloves and went after Koci. This was a battle of the titans that ended in a draw. Fight or not, Godard was showing his loyalty and team spirit.

Just a few minutes later, Pens forward Bill Guerin mixed it up with Lightning forward Evgeny Artyukhin after Artyukhin crosschecked Pens defensemen Sergei Gonchar.

Is there a lot of fighting in hockey? Not really. Not anymore. Does it have it's place in the game? Absolutely.

Team spirit. Loyalty. These are the things that I see where others just see two hockey players throwing punches. These men are a team. They win together and they lose together. If you want to take a shot at one of them, just know you are taking a shot at the whole team. This is one of the reasons that hockey is the greatest sport on Earth. GO PENS!!!!

You Win Some, You Lose Some

I fancy myself to be a learned and cultured individual. Whether that is in fact the case is completely irrelevant because I used the word 'fancy.' I FANCY myself to be a learned and cultured individual. Now, I know that to make such a statement without proof would open me up to ridicule and countless wet willies. Since I am not a fan of either, I will prove what I say is true.

A few months ago, my daughters and I took it upon ourselves to brighten the world around us and we did this through the careful and deliberate application of green thumbery. I acquired the seeds during my travels (a trip to Fred Meyer) and together the three of us put those precious seedlings into the ground. We cleared the rocks. We dug the holes. We placed those tiny bundles of life into the dirt and covered them.......and then we promptly forgot about them. UNTIL NOW!!! Our labors have borne fruit!!

Are those not the most beautiful pansies you have ever seen? They are mesmerizing in their majesty. Their fragrance puts to shame even the most beautiful of roses. Most days, the girls and I stand there for 15 or 20 minutes and gaze upon these flowers with the pride of a parent observing a particularly gifted child if that child were small, leafy, and sprouted yellow and purple petals.

Now whether any of you, my loyal readers, believe it or not, I am but a human and I am subject to the weaknesses and fallacies that beset all humankind. Where my power over growing things is, by all accounts, limitless my power over clay is less so.

This past weekend, my daughters brought over to my house their new sculpting kit. This cool little kit included clay in a myriad of colors, a cool book full of ideas, and NO instructions whatsoever.

I sat and read quietly as both girls worked diligently to create a masterpiece from the formless clay. They both labored for the better part of an hour. In fact, Lex Luthor (see previous post here) might have worked for 90 minutes on her David. Once they were both done, they asked that I bake the sculptures in order to harden them. I, of course, was happy to do so.

I scanned the pages of the included book for nearly 10 minutes in an effort to discern some sort of approach to this baking thing. Nothing. I went online and "googled." Some information popped up. I scanned to first link briefly and then with a "damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead" attitude, I fired up the oven to 300 degrees, plopped the clay creations onto a cookie sheet, and shoved them into the oven. 10 minutes later, Averi asked if something was burning. Not good. I rushed to the oven and pulled it open. Destruction was complete. I had in the span of just a few short minutes, obliterated almost an hour's hard work.

I learned two lessons from these separate but related incidents. First, spend as much time with your kids as you possibly can doing things they will love. Second, flowers are easy and clay sucks donkey.

I Should Have Been a Political Activist :-)

I am going to rant about the new cigar tax that goes into effect on Wednesday.

I’m not a cigar smoker. Have I tried them? Yes. Regularly? Not at all. I think I am up in arms because it will destroy small businesses. Tampa, FL will take a huge hit in terms of business. 2/3 of all cigars made in the US or imported into the US come through Tampa. The tax is increasing from 5 cents to 40 cents per cigar. That is a huge increase. 300% in fact unless my math is wrong, which is a distinct possibility.

Tampa has been the cigar capital of the US for over a century. Now this tax is threatening to damage yet another aspect of the economy. Put more people out of work. In my opinion, you have to look at the big picture. The tax increases. People stop buying cigars. Cigar makers close up shop and lay people off. Those laid off people can't find work. Local tax revenues shrink because fewer people are paying taxes because they aren't working. With less tax revenues coming in, city and county services are cut. More people lose their jobs. Blah, blah, blah. That isn't even taking into consideration the suppliers that these cigar makers do business with.

Now it could be said that this could apply to any business and that is true but my point isn’t specific to cigars. Whether it is cigars, or tires, or baby bottles makes no difference. Taxing a business out of existence is not fixing things. It is only causing more pain. Obama and his crew insist that they are trying to save and/or create jobs!! Strange way to save jobs I say. Tax them out of existence? Now, if someone in the Obama administration, including the big man himself, would just step up and say "You know, in order to fix this thing the right way, we are going to have to destroy some peoples’ livelihoods." I wouldn't be near as worked up about it because that would at least be the truth. Don't sit there though and tell me you are doing every thing you can to save or create jobs and then levy 300% tax increases against specific sectors of the economy.

I’m sure some of you who read this are wondering if there is more to this than I am letting on and there is. Evidently, this tax increase will be used to fund an increase in children's health care. I personally believe that if there is a single demographic that deserves an increase in health care coverage, it is children. I DO NOT however, believe that this is the way to go about doing it. I see where the government is coming from on this one. “Tax the shit out of cigar makers to pay for child health care. The American public will eat that up!!” I don’t buy it though. How about cutting pork barrel spending? How about taxing imported cigars only rather than imported and locally made? How about getting a handle on the billions of tax payer dollars that have been dropped down the black holes that are AIG, GM, Chrysler, etc? This is a punitive tax and nothing more. It is yet another example of a government that is so in over its head that it will do anything to appear like it is doing something.

I know I don't have the answers. I know there are thousands of people who are way smarter than me that are trying to fix this problem. But from my perspective, something’s just don't seem right and let's face it, perception is reality.